Klarinet Archive - Posting 000405.txt from 2004/03

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@------.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] English and American
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 19:05:02 -0500

In message <009301c40363$2681c160$f9dce150@------>
<tony-w@------.co.uk> wrote:

> From: Joe Fasel <jhf@------.gov>
>
> > On 2004.03.05 08:34, tony-w@------.co.uk wrote:
>
> > > Just one more example - clarinetist and clarinettist - which is
> > > correct? They can`t both be!!
> >
> > (As he attempts to drag this thread back on-topic...) As I understand
> > it, the general orthographic rule in British English is to double a final
> > consonant when adding a suffix whenever the vowel is short, whereas in
> > American English, there is the further requirement that the originally
> > final syllable is stressed. (This, I presume, is connected with our
> > appalling habit of turning unstressed vowels into schwas.) Now, in my
> > experience, "clarinet" with stress on the last syllable is common, but so
> > is stress on the first, but I think that "clarinettist" with stress on
> > the third syllable is much more common than on the first (probably
> > because three unstressed syllables in a row are awkward). Thus, even
> > according to American orthography, and certainly, British, I would claim
> > that "clarinettist" is to be preferred. [Note the "rr" in that last
> > word.]
> >
> > Frankly, I hadn't noticed this issue with this word before, and I think I
> > may have been spelling it the other way. I won't anymore. ;-)
>
> Now I`m just wondering about the pronunciation aspect. It is important.
> Maybe the English 'clarinettist' ensures no corruption of pronunciation.
> 'Clarinetist' could indeed be corrupted to 'clarine Tist', with the
> syllable 'ne' having a lesser importance - i.e. a throw away after the
> initial 'clari', before a positive accent on 'Tist'; as opposed to
> 'clarinet tist, thus ensuring the 't' at the end of clarinet is most
> positively pronounced before the final 'tist' is uttered.

The reason it's 'clarinettist', when it is, is that it follows the Italian
diminutive suffix '-etto'.

So, clarino, diminutive clarinetto, and clarinettista for the player.

Compare, viola; vionlino (little viola, via diminutive suffix '-ino');
violone ('big viola', the '-one' suffix indicating larger version); and
finally violoncello (little big viola, via the further diminutive '-cello').

And the players are violista, violinista, violoncellista.

Not saying that history is 'right'; just that it 'is'.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
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